The Perfect Night
by Tol Morwen
Summary: The Melodic Mermaid restaurant has seen through many proposals for marriage but the one for Severus and Hermione was... slightly different. [SSHG]


Disclaimer- Not me... only to _her_ that wonderful goddess/queen  
  
Notes- Idea came after watching a special on wedding and how to propose so enjoy my temporary insanity! Also there might be a sequel to this after I finish Abstulo so just bear with me. Plus a little mentioning of slash between Draco and Harry but it's really just a mentioning.  
  
The Perfect Night  
  
By Tol Morwen  
  
'This _will_ be the perfect night!' Severus determinedly thought in his head as he pulled back his girlfriend's seat to let her sit. Hermione, though confused at the gesture, was happy at the display of chivalry. It was not everyday that her boyfriend, "The Greasy Git" as so eloquently put by her friend Ron, would act like a gentleman.  
  
They were in the Melodic Mermaid, the most expensive restaurant in town and Hermione was worried at the price Severus might have to pay for their meal. "Sev... we didn't have to go here. I would have been fine with dinner at home," she said but Severus shook his head vehemently.  
  
"No, no," he rebutted. "Nothing's too good or expensive for you."  
  
"But how are you going to pay for it?" Hermione questioned. Even though being a professor at Hogwarts paid well, she was still worried.  
  
Severus went still. He couldn't tell her that Dumbledore had given him the money just for _this_ one special night. He prayed for a distraction in the form of anything. Anything! Harry Potter flying by naked on his broom, Cornelius Fudge doing the cancan in his boxer shorts, or anything else would have sufficed. Luckily his prayers were answered when their "random" waiter for the night came to give them their menus.  
  
He was of medium build and had gray eyes and dark brown hair. He wore the uniform of the restaurant and his nametag simply said "Jacque". When he came over, he bowed low before them but soon he took Hermione's hand and kissed it. Snape scowled and thought, 'I'll kill you later for that boy!'  
  
Hermione's face reddened and she tried to stifle the giggle she felt coming. "My name is Jacque and I shall be your waiter for tonight," Jacque told them in a slight French accent. "And I have your menus here. One for you madam," he said as he gave Hermione her menu. "And one for you sir," he said as he winked at him. "I will be back in a moment." He soon left but not before mouthing "Good luck" at Severus.  
  
'Yes' Severus thought, 'I'll kill him very slowly and painfully.'  
  
Hermione glanced at the waiter feeling something odd about him. He seemed so familiar yet she couldn't place him anywhere. She quickly shook it off however and looked at her menu... and almost fainted at the prices she saw. Steak was 12 galleons, fish was 8, and a stupid cup of coffee was 3. Making sure Severus wasn't looking at her, she patted her pockets to see how much money she had. No luck. All she had were three paper clips and a button that had came off of her favorite blouse.  
  
Severus however wasn't panicking like she was. In fact he seemed to be enjoying the prices. He turned the page one more time before shaking his head dejectedly. "I just can't decide. They all seem very good," he murmured.  
  
"Sev are you blind?" she asked worriedly. "Did you even look at the prices?"  
  
"Herm like I said, nothing's too good or expensive for _you_," Snape recounted. Hermione just stared at him. Did an alien from outer space kidnap her boyfriend and replaced him with a clone? Had years of exposure to dangerous fumes finally made him lose his mind? Or had the fact that his own godson, Draco, was dating the Boy-Who-Lived had made him snap? And why was she asking herself unoriginal, crazy questions?  
  
When Hermione didn't reply back Snape began to get worried. Had he done something wrong? He hadn't insulted her friends yet or talked about killing Potter. So why was she this quiet? Jacque, sensing that something was wrong, came over to take their orders. "Are you both ready?" he asked in that slight accent.  
  
"If you mean ready to complain, then yes!" Hermione protested as she snapped out of her trance. "These prices are ridiculous! A cup of coffee for 3 galleons is robbery!"  
  
"But Madam," the slightly scared waiter began, "Our coffee is imported from Brazil and is slowly roasted for days. Surely you can understand that for true quality you need to pay?"  
  
Before Hermione could answer back Severus cut in. "I think that I'll have the filet mignon and she will have the steak," he said.  
  
Hermione looked scandalized. Quickly she opened her menu to find out the price of the filet mignon but the waiter snatched it out of her hand. He ignored her protests and gathered Severus' menu. "It will only take a moment," he informed curtly.  
  
When he left, Hermione turned to Snape and gritted out, "Why did you do that? I had the situation perfectly under control!" She crossed her arms and pouted.  
  
Snape rolled his eyes and gritted out, "If "under control" means having the whole restaurant stare at you, then I don't want you to have things under control!" Indeed when Hermione looked around, people were looking at them. Only when she glared them down did they look away. Both of them were too angry and stubborn to relent to the other's wishes so they both waited for their food in silence.  
  
'This was not supposed to happen,' Snape thought. 'This was supposed to be the perfect night! Why God, why?' After ten minutes, Jacque came back with their food. He rolled down a cart towards them and took each plate and set it down. They were covered in a large silver dome so Hermione didn't know what to expect. But when the dome was taken off, her nose was suddenly attacked by the different smells coming from her steak.

'Now I know why it's so expensive,' she thought. Taking her knife and fork, she quickly cut off a piece and put it in her mouth. She savored the taste. She looked over and saw her boyfriend just picking at his food. Thinking that he didn't like it, she cut off a large portion of her steak and reached over to put it on her boyfriend's plate. Snape saw however and tried to protect his plate but soon he saw Hermione's angry face. Severus relented and Hermione happily put the piece in. She offered him a smile which Snape reluctantly reciprocated with.

After eating, Jacque came back and took their plates away. But soon he came back with two dessert menus. "Are you sure you want dessert? I'm actually pretty full," Hermione said as she flipped through.  
  
"I'm sure you can fit a little more in your stomach. I'm _sure_ I'm in the mood for something sweet," he told mysteriously. He flipped to the third page and pointed out a dish. "Perhaps the Cinderella dessert would be good Herm."  
  
Hermione looked at it and decided that maybe she could take a few bites out of a vanilla mold of a shoe filled with Boston cream. "Perhaps... and maybe you could take some Big Bad Wolf Chocolate Cake?" she said jokingly.  
  
Thinking that it would make her happy, he nodded and enjoyed the shock on her face. They both told their orders to Jacque who nodded away happily. Hermione even thought that she saw some tears glistening in his eyes before he left.  
  
Now was the time however to get serious. For a ridiculous amount of time, he, that old, romantic coot, Albus, and Draco had been planning for tonight. On top of her Boston cream filling, there would be an engagement ring waiting for her. All he needed to do now was bide his time, avoid heart failure, and propose to her. But first he needed to compliment her like Albus suggested to do.  
  
"Herm?" he started. She looked at him and smiled. "Your... er hair isn't as bushy as it usually is."  
  
Her smile instantly faded away. "What?" she asked as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.  
  
"It's true. Also from this angle your nose doesn't look as crooked," he said bluntly. "Plus your friends aren't _that_ stupid and you really aren't a know-it-all like I thought you were before."  
  
"Do you want to break up with me?" Hermione said angrily. She stood up from her chair and threw her napkin to the side. By now she attracted everyone's attention and they were all staring at them again. Severus however looked confused. He had just complimented her... right?  
  
"Do you?" she said sadly. Snape wanted to scream out "no". It was, in fact, the opposite; he wanted to marry her. Luckily Jacque came back with their desserts.  
  
He set down their plates and timidly asked for her to sit down but she wouldn't. "No!" she yelled. "I'm trying to speak with my "boyfriend!" So leave me _alone_!" Jacque nodded rapidly and left with his tail between his legs.  
  
"Herm just open the dome to your dessert," Snape said thinking that if she saw the ring, she'd actually get quiet for once.  
  
"No!"  
  
"Please Herm," he said so plaintively that she complied. She opened it and just glanced at it before turning to Severus; it was only dessert anyway. But now Snape was panicking. Where was the ring? It wasn't on top of the filling like they planned. It was nowhere in sight! Taking his spoon, he leaned over and viciously attacked the shoe ignoring his girlfriend's loud squeaking.  
  
"It's not here!" he screamed after he ripped the dessert to shreds. "Where is it?"  
  
"Where's what? Your mind?" Hermione said sarcastically as she looked at Snape with horror and confusion.  
  
When Jacque finally came to the room, he didn't find the scene of happiness and joy like he imagined. Instead he saw a scene of chaos. He jogged over to Snape swiftly, silently swearing and cursing every step of the way. "What's wrong?" he asked.  
  
"What's wrong? What's wrong!?!" Severus exclaimed. "Well I'll tell you, _Jacque_," he said "Jacque" in a mocking and sarcastic way, "My little "present" isn't here!!"  
  
The waiter went white. "Sir," Jacque leaned conspiratorially to the irate man and whispered, "The cooks told me that they put it in the dessert. If it's not in the shoe then it's in..." In complete unison, both men looked over at Severus' untouched dessert. Quickly, Jacque threw away the dome to the side, and with their bare hands, ripped the slice of cake to shreds.  
  
"I got it, I got it!" Snape yelled with utter joy after a minute. His fingers were laced with bits of chocolate cake and he looked like an absolute maniac, but he didn't care. In his hand was the diamond ring.  
  
"Thank God," Jacque muttered as he wiped his hands with a napkin. Everywhere people were whispering and Hermione was about to launch into another lecture until she saw the ring. She was speechless. With one hand, she covered her mouth.  
  
Like he rehearsed, Severus went down on one knee and took Hermione's free hand lovingly. Then he looked up to see his girlfriend's eyes glistening with unshed tears. "I don't want to break up with you," he said. "I want to do the opposite in fact. Hermione, I always thought that I would live life by myself and that I would die alone. But then you came and changed all of that. I love you. Will you marry me?"  
  
She stayed quiet as she stared at the ring. When she was a little girl, she always thought that her engagement ring would be humongous and grand, but the ring's band was plain and the diamond was small... yet it looked perfect in her eyes. 'Oh well. Besides,' she thought, 'I always thought that I would marry a prince, not a wizard with chocolate covered fingers.'  
  
"Get off of the floor so I can kiss you!" she murmured.  
  
"Is that a yes or a no?" Snape said sincerely.  
  
"That's a yes, Sev," Jacque said. He took out his wand and pointed it at himself. He muttered a spell and instantly he became Draco.  
  
"I knew it!" Hermione said as she pointed at him. "You just seemed so familiar."  
  
"Guess you don't get any awards," Snape muttered as he stood up. But he was soon bombarded with Hermione as she flung herself to him. As if on cue, everyone in the restaurant applauded, of their own free will of course. Not because Draco pointed his wand at them and threatened to make their brains ooze out of their ears if they didn't.  
  
Hermione held out her hand and Severus slipped the ring on her finger. "I love you," he said in his deep voice.  
  
"I love you too," she replied back. She glanced at the now unrecognizable Cinderella dessert shoe and said, "And I know the perfect place to have the wedding."  
  
_Finito_  
  
Can you guess where the wedding will be? 


End file.
